Menopause Myths*

 
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Myth 1:
Menopause causes osteoporosis, heart disease, arthritis, and other chronic diseases.

False! Menopause does not cause these or any other chronic conditions. Just because certain ailments and menopause all happen on the way to getting older doesn't mean that one causes the other.

Myth 2:
Menopause causes mood changes.

Nope. Many of the psychological changes attributed to menopause occur just as frequently in women in other age groups. And guess what? Men report almost all the same symptoms as women, thus the notion of "male menopause." It's not the menopause that causes mood changes -- it's life!

Myth 3:
Menopausal women are estrogen deficient

Wrong again. Postmenopausal women continue to make estrogen from their ovaries and their adrenal glands. In fact, postmenopausal women with ovaries are no more "estrogen deficient" that prepubertal girls -- each has an appropriate level of estrogen for her phase of life.

Myth 4:
In the old days, women didn't live past menopause; modern women live longer and thus need estrogen.

No way! Decreased infant and maternal mortality mean more women live to ripe old age, but hundreds of years ago, women who survived childhood diseases and dangerous childbirth practices also lived long lives!


* National Women's Health Network. The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy. Prima Publishing. Roseville, 2002. (Page 37).